Australian sailors Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page on the upcoming 470 World Championships.

With only a short rest after Hyeres before re-grouping in Barcelona, we were already preparing for the 2012 470 World Championships in Barcelona.

It does not seem that long ago that we had to defend our last world title in Perth five months back but the time has come. The newly launched Barcelona's international sailing centre is playing host to our championships. Plenty of space with great facilities has made our preparations quite easy.

The conditions have been great and we are expecting a mix of conditions, a vast contrast to the cold and wet conditions in Weymouth, UK, at the moment.

We have 97 boats registered which will be split into three fleets, starting tomorrow in the 13 race series across seven days. Malcolm and I are looking forward to the opportunity to defend our World title and hopefully complete the triple. We have the form and experience but time will tell, things don't always go to plan.

We are also pleased to report that we recently launched our belcherpage2012 supporters shirts. We have spent a bit of time designing these with Zhik and really hope you enjoy these and wear them proudly around the boat park. We really appreciate your support. To purchase one just log on to our website and follow the links. We are selling these via our donation page.